Gary Baran died on 01-Jan-2024 following months of treatment for esophageal cancer. He was in his home surrounded by his family (see obituary).
Gary was born in Chicago, Illinois (U.S.) in 1943 to Irwin and Esther Baran. During his formative years his family lived in veteran’s housing projects, where he regularly interacted with people from a wide variety of backgrounds and had experiences which laid the foundation for his life-long interest in peace and social justice. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he met his future wife Lynne Baran. He went on to teach philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, California State University (where he earned a second master’s degree in Educational Psychology: Counseling and Guidance) and Los Angeles City College.
While at LACC, he was active in faculty associations, serving as Treasurer and then President of the Academic Senate. He helped organize collective bargaining for the faculty and then served several years as chapter chair of the faculty union (the AFT College Guild) and was a member of the Guild’s contract negotiation team. Gary was also a licensed marriage and family therapist and a Certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication.
He married Lynne Varco in 1981 and became a stepfather to her two children, Andy and Courtney Shanely. Lynne and Gary had two children of their own, Emily Baran and Jordan Baran. After 27 years as a professor at LACC he resigned that position to devote all of his energy to being the Executive Director of the Center for Nonviolent Communication, a position he held for nearly 8 years.
In 2006 the family moved from Southern California to Eugene, Oregon, where Gary was active in the Oregon Old Time Fiddlers Association and other music groups, playing banjo, fiddle and occasionally guitar, and offered training in Nonviolent Communication to a wide variety of groups, including inmates at the Oregon State Penitentiary where he volunteered for several years, and in the University of Oregon Substance Abuse and Prevention Program. For eight years he was a member of the board of directors of the Oregon Network for Compassionate Communication. He and Lynne considered themselves very fortunate to live in Eugene where they found many kindred spirits.
Gary is survived by his wife, Lynne Baran, children Emily Baran and Jordan Baran; step children Courtney Gustin and Andy Shanely; his grandchildren, Lumin and Olin Jacobson; his bother Richard Baran; and many loving friends.
I envision a world in which the needs of all people are honored, in which the abundant resources of our planet are both respected and also flow freely so as to reliably meet those needs, and in which people resolve their conflicts peacefully. I strive to live in harmony with the principles of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and to offer NVC training to the public and to those organizations and institutions that resonate with those principles. I also provide counseling and consulting services to individuals and groups, and help to contribute to the spread of NVC by serving as a member of the board of directors of the Oregon Network for Compassionate Communication.
I have a special affinity for educators, having been a professor of philosophy for thirty-five years, and with parents and mental health professionals, having been a marriage and family therapist for the same length of time — and a co-parent of two for over twenty-five years. I also have a special affinity for those who are responsible for organizational leadership, having served as executive director of the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC) for nearly eight years, and am especially eager to contribute to the work of social activists. I live in Eugene, Oregon, USA and, since COVID-19 and for health reasons, I limit training and consulting to Zoom.
